Dial 911 and report a congressional empty promise: the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999.

• Author: Ten Eyck, Peter P.

1. INTRODUCTION

   On Thanksgiving Day 1997, Greg and Luann Bertaux were traveling from their Kansas home to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, when they observed a nearby green minivan darting dangerously in and out of traffic along U.S. 71 near Carthage, Missouri. (1) Thinking that the driver was inebriated, Mrs. Bertaux picked up her cellular phone and dialed 911 to alert Missouri police. (2) Her call succeeded in reaching the Joplin Police Department, but shortly after connecting, a recorded message instructed her to hold for an attendant who never answered the phone. (3) Bertaux tired of waiting for an operator in Joplin and dialed information in an attempt to learn the phone number for an approaching town's police department. (4) Again, she failed to reach the proper authorities, (5) Her third attempt to alert emergency personnel of the minivan's dangerous driver finally reached local police officers. By the time officials could set up a roadblock, however, the green minivan had already smashed head-on with another automobile and killed three people, including a two-year-old child. (6)

   Sadly, had Mrs. Bertaux reached Missouri police on her first attempt, these deaths might have been avoided. (7) Yet neither the Bertaux couple nor the majority of Missourians surveyed at that time were aware that "*55" was the official cellular number to dial in that state for emergency assistance--not "911". (8) This avoidable tragedy was but one of the more significant considerations driving Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt and Congresswoman Pat Danner's push for legislation to establish 911 as the nationwide telephone number for emergency assistance. (9) Members of both the House and the Senate drafted similar measures to accomplish this objective during the 106th Congress, and Senators John McCain of Arizona and Conrad Bums of Montana introduced the bill that eventually became the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999 (the 911 Act) on April 14, 1999. (10) After the House approved the Senate's version of the Act by a vote of 424-2, President Clinton signed the measure into law on October 26, 1999. (11)

   Designed to promote the prompt deployment of a seamless emergency services infrastructure to meet the nation's safety needs, the 911 Act not only instructs the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to assign the abbreviated dialing code 911 for use as the universal emergency telephone number, but also directs the FCC to establish appropriate transition periods for compliance in areas without 911 service. Furthermore, the 911 Act supports individual states' efforts to develop comprehensive emergency communications. (12) Although improving the 911 system and saving lives by developing an end-to-end emergency communications network are commendable goals, this Note argues that the anemic 911 Act is an important first step, but accomplishes little beyond merely establishing 911 as the universal emergency telephone number. Part II of this Note addresses the history and background of the 911 calling system while Part III presents, in detail, the Act itself. Part IV evaluates the 911 Act's potential ability to meet the nation's safety needs in light of its weaknesses. Finally, Part V asserts the specific changes and improvements needed for the 911 Act to adhere to its promise of enhanced public safety.

2. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF 911 TECHNOLOGY

   Great Britain developed the first three-digit emergency telephone number in 1937 to provide its citizens with an avenue to notify the appropriate authorities quickly and easily in an emergency. (13) At the urging of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement, AT&T pioneered the United States' 911 system in the late 1960s and employed it in Haleyville, Alabama. (14) With help from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, other local governments and municipalities soon followed Haleyville's lead, and today some configuration of 911 service is available on more than eighty-nine percent of the nation's wirelines. (15) Picking up the telephone is now most Americans' first instinct when faced with an emergency as 911 has become synonymous with emergency assistance. (16)

   A 911 emergency system includes two fundamental components: (1) Public Safety Answering Points ("PSAPs") replete with the personnel and equipment necessary to receive 911 calls; and (2) switching and signaling equipment provided by telecommunications carriers that recognizes the 911 abbreviated dialing code and relays emergency calls to the PSAPs. (17) Local exchange carriers ("LECs") route the typical 911 emergency call to centrally located PSAPs staffed by trained, professional operators who help callers in need of assistance and convey details of the caller's situation to the appropriate emergency personnel. (18)

   Traditionally, the emergency operator receiving the 911 call at the PSAP gathered information about the nature and location of the emergency by asking the caller precise questions. (19) Interrogating callers wastes valuable time as more states and municipalities have upgraded their 911 systems and PSAPs to enhanced 911 ("E-911") over the past decade. (20) A wireline 911 call placed today in a region with E-911 capability transmits both the caller's telephone number and address to the PSAP. This capability allows the operator to relay that information to emergency personnel quickly and enables emergency crews to respond rapidly, even if a caller cannot convey his or her location. (21)

   Not all 911 calls, however, are placed from wireline telephones; wireless 911 is becoming increasingly crucial in alerting public safety agencies to an emergency. (22) In 1999, when Congress passed the 911 Act, roughly 68 million Americans subscribed to a wireless telephone service. (23) These subscribers placed 43 million wireless 911 calls that year--double the amount of similar calls made in 1996--and in 2001, experts predict that the total number of cellular calls placed in the United States will exceed all wireline calls. (24) PSAPs are inundated with more than eighty calls per minute, and fueled by the explosion in the number of cellular subscribers, an exponentially increasing number of these calls are placed from wireless phones. (25)

   Although the public's reliance on cellular phones in emergencies is expanding, "Congress found that, despite the important steps taken by the Commission, few areas in the country were served by wireless systems operating under our E911 requirements and that E911 service currently is not deployed on many wireless systems." (26) In 1996, the FCC adopted rules in a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that required wireless carriers to deliver their customers' 911 calls to PSAPs and obligated them to implement and deploy enhanced 911 features that report the location of wireless emergency calls. (27)

   The Commission scheduled its E-911 requirements to occur in two phases. (28) Phase One obligated carriers to transmit the phone number of the wireless handset making the call and the location of the phone's cellular base station to the designated PSAP. (29) Phase Two requires more precise location technology; certain wireless carriers must achieve the capability to identify the latitude and longitude of the wireless phone making the call. (30) Without a doubt, wireless E-911 will allow emergency workers to reach thousands of cellular callers more quickly and will save thousands of lives in the process. (31) Nonetheless, wireless corporations have delayed in comporting with the Commission's requirements and have requested that the FCC relax the scheduled dates for compliance. (32)

   Congress accordingly passed the 911 Act to establish 911 as the official, universal emergency number for wireline and wireless telephone service. Additionally, the Act would spur lagging E-911 implementation and beget the nationwide improvements in wireless emergency communication systems mandated by the Commission's E-911 Requirements. (33)

3. THE WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC SAFETY ACT OF 1999: A PROMISE TO PROMOTE AND ENHANCE PUBLIC SAFETY

   Designed to promote public safety "by making 9-1-1 the universal emergency assistance number, by furthering deployment of wireless 9-1-1 capabilities and related functions, and by encouraging construction and operation of seamless, ubiquitous, and reliable networks for wireless services," (34) the 911 Act has four principal directives. First, it replaces the confusing codes and alternative numbers that wireless networks previously used by instructing the Commission to designate 911 as the universal emergency number for all forms of telephone service. (35) Second, the Act charges the FCC with the task of supporting the states in implementing a comprehensive end-to-end emergency communications network and working with the states to administer wireless E-911. (36) Third, it equalizes the liability protection from transmission errors or other technical failures that a given state confers upon wireless telecommunications users and providers of 911 with that of wireline users and providers. (37) Fourth, the 911 Act protects wireless users' privacy by requiring carriers to obtain a customer's express prior authorization before disclosing any location information other than in emergencies. (38)

   The Act consists of six sections, the first of which simply identifies its short title as the "Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999" and the last of which merely provides definitions for the words and phrases Congress employed in the legislation. (39) The true substance of the 911 Act is contained in sections two through five. This analysis begins with the former, which contains both Congress's findings and the stated purpose of the law. (40)

   1. Section Two--Assigning a Purpose

      Section two of the 911 Act illustrates the general "importance of establishing and maintaining an end-to-end communications infrastructure for emergency services."...